Cerebus

It's not that I really forgot about Cerebus, but I did somewhat tuck him to the back of my mind over the last 15 or so years as I moved onto other things in life like skiing, climbing, music, etc... When I was younger I used to read comic books pretty regularly. I loved the X-Men and Spider-Man and all the Marvel universe. I used to ride my bike to "Heroes Aren't Hard to find" in downtown Winston-Salem every weekend to pick up the new issues that had come out that week. One day I came across a comic like none I'd ever seen. Cerebus the Aardvark. Huh? A comic book about a drunk barbarian aardvark? What the hell is this? But being the curious little shithead I was, I picked it up. I can't remember which issue it was because after reading it, I bought every issue I could get my hands on. This was like no comic I had ever read.

Cerebus wasn't your typical superhero flying cape laser eye save the population beat and humiliate the evil bad guy type of comic. This was something else. Cerebus was the ultimate anti-hero. He was a drunk, a womanizer and a brute who wandered around fighting, drinking and destroying things. As the story evolved he was still a drunk, a womanizer and somewhat of a brute, but he started to be introduced to more complex topics like high society, government and religion, all better suited to more accepted literature than your typical comic book subject matter.

The comics always had be tied me up from panel one to the end of the last page. After the first 20 or so books Cerebus started to develop into a deep character and the books started to gain a serious, provoking plot. There were political moves, religious conquests and Cerebus had to start making it in a society that wasn't used to the previous books hack and slash mentality. The art got better and the writing excelled. It was around this time that Sims announced that Cerebus was going to be a 300 issue graphic novel that would have a definite beginning and a definite end. I was hooked.

These books have been re-released (years ago) as a 15 part series of collections of issues that tell different chapters to the whole Cerebus story. I used to have all these comics tucked away somewhere at my parents, but alas, after many moves and years of me out west running around as a ski bum, they've disappeared. Well I just ordered the first four books which include my two favorite, the Church and State issues. I think I can really point to these some of the story as one of the things that opened my mind on religion. The plot (loosely recounted here) is that after many travels Cerebus, the former barbarian and brute, is appointed first prime minister and then Pope. The power goes to his head and he tells the populace that they must bow to him, give him all their gold or die horrible deaths. He pays the price and is sent to face the "judge" (god) where he is prophetically told he will die alone and unloved. After this, another political group the Cirinists (who represent a feminine contrary to Cerebus's masculine character) takes over and is in control for the majority of the rest of the story. The struggles detailed thought the books are easily seen as misogynistic. This caused some readers to lose interest or become disgusted with the books and with Sim. I can see the same religion.

Granted it's not the prettiest picture painted here, but Cerebus was never about the "nice" storyline, it was about a deep meaty plot with plenty of conflict and emotion. I never read far enough to get into the more obvious issues where Sims let the world know his feelings on women and I'm not sure how I'll take it. I'll give them a whirl and see if the story can overshadow the views being expressed. I can excuse some disgusting viewpoints in the name of art as long as it remains as only art. Fiction is fiction until it crosses the line. I think were all too sensitive anyway. We've all excused writers, filmmakers and artists before...... However, it appears his later work goes into some interpretation of the bible that I'm sure pissed many people off with its male as the good in the world dominated viewpoint. Seems sufficiently sexist enough for Sims to fit in with many religious cults today. On top of the sexist overtones of the later parts of the Cerebus series, it also appears Dave Sims has some serious distorted and moronic views on science and religion. Yep you guessed it Sims has some creationist like leanings. I'm actually curious to read what he comes up with.


Here is a good write up on Sims and Cerebus (read the whole thing is you're going to read it at all).

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